I'll Be Your Strength
by LittleScarlet
Summary: Trafalgar Law, a young man imprisoned in a hospital due to his illness came to a decision to end it all. Little did he know a certain drunkard would interfere with his plan and that their brief encounter is the beginning of a change. But is it for the better or for the worse, Law did not know. Warning: BoyxBoy/Law x Kidd AU
1. Chapter 1

**I'll Be Your Strength**

**A/N: This is my first One Piece fic ever! So, I'm not really confident of capturing the characters'…well…character. And it's also my first time writing anything serious. Most of my other fic are humor-centric and I haven't written anything for a while, so please drop a review to tell me your opinion and possibly suggestion to improve? ****happy reading! –Scarlet**

**Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters do not belong to me.**

**Warning: Boy x Boy, Suicidal thoughts and Cursing**

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**Chapter 1 – Encounter**

The blinking light of the city, buzzing of the busy street and nightlife echoing faintly below, people scuttling about and drinking away the night waiting for the clock to strike twelve to have the last celebration to mark the end of another year. It was a brilliant sight from the building above as behold by a young man standing near the railing on the roof of the hospital. A gush of wind brushes through his raven hair and teasing the thin fabric of the white hospital gown he was wearing underneath his unzipped jacket .He closed his eyes to feel more of them. The roof was such a calming place, it was quite and no one ever came here, and that's how he liked it to be, a place of solitude and a place to call his own. Taking in another breath of cold air. He pondered upon his next step as he gazed upon the street below, quite literally.

Should he take another step forward, a step of no turning back or rather he go back to the prison he called home? It should've been an easy choice. He's tired of all these string of experiments. He's tired of trapped in suffocating white room. It has been years since he was trapped in it, alone. With no friends or family to visit. He was adopted by doctor Kureha and as far as he knew his parents was dead. He did have friends of course, but they either work in the hospital or was a fellow patient as he was_. It doesn't count. _He reminded himself. He yearned for a life outside of the hospital, a life he could only dreamed of clinging to the false hope of the doctors ever found out what's wrong with him, and let him leave. They've been trying for years, and still the doctors didn't have a clue to what caused his condition. Yes, he had a strange illness and had been a lab rat for as long as he could remember and the only thing they found from his disease is that it's genetic. Apparently his name Trafalgar Law, was not the only thing given by his parents, but also the life of confinement and suffering he was currently living.

Law sighed. Just before he was about to make the greatest decision, or rather mistake of his life the door slammed open and he turned to look at what had interrupted his peace. He couldn't see well in the dark, but a flash of firework gave him a hint on the bastard ruining his possibly last moment.

A red-haired man in black fur-rimmed coat, not much older than himself was running out of the door holding a bottle of booze laughing his ass off.

_Great._ He thought. Just what he needed, a drunken man rampaging on his safe haven. He was trying to ignore the man and proceed with what he was about to do, until someone spoke up, the source of the voice much closer to his liking.

"Hey, what are you trying to do?"

Law turned around once more to find the redhead just two feet away from him, violating his personal space. He would've like to shove the other man away, but the muscles peeping from his unbuttoned coat convinced him that it'd take a hell lot of a work just for him to move the other man even an inch.

"Hey, don't you try to ignore me." The man said again in a gruff voice as he pulled Law's arm so sudden and harsh sending a jolt of surprise up his spine. He was about to snap when a horrible smell of alcohol hit him and nausea rose in his stomach. He was so tempted to puke his gut out on the other man. Instead, he spat bitterly.

"I have no obligation to answer you, sir. Now would you please kindly let go of my arm." Albeit Law's words were put together in a polite manner, his tone was laced with venom.

The redhead considered for a while and tossed his empty bottle he was holding on his other hand.

"My arm, kind sir. Or are you in too drunk of a state to even hear me correctly?" Law had begun to get more and more irritated. Fuck it, He never planned to have his last glorious breathing moment to be such a mess.

"I heard you the first time. But I won't let go till you answer me what were you trying to do?" Despite the strong smell of alcohol coming from the man, Law for once saw that the muscular troll was indeed sober. He made the mistake of looking into the man's eyes. They were sharp and blazing red matching his red hair, the lack of eyebrow made the man looked even more intimidating.

Law cursed under his breath and spat, "I was going to jump off the fucking roof. Now let me go and fuck off if you know what's best for you!"

To his surprise, the redhead let go of his arm and took a few steps away without turning his back from Law. He just stood there with an amused grin on his face.

"Go on then, jump!"

_Had his hearing deceived him? Or did he really…_

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said, jump." The grin was still intact. To Law's horror and disbelieve, the guy was fucking challenging him. Law didn't even know how to respond to that.

"Or are you too cowardly to take the challenge I assume?" This guy is sick.

Law wanted backed off from the railing and stomped toward the man and take him down with him. But part of his mind still in its rational state conclude that he'd die a painful death involving hard fists connecting with parts of his body and splatter of blood should he tried to take on the taller man.

"I don't think you should provoke me into my eventual death, Mister."

"Kidd. Eustass Kidd." He answered.

"I wasn't asking for your name." Law said bitterly.

"But nevertheless you're heard it. So what's yours, or should I call you pussycat?" Kidd's grin got wider and his eyes flashed in devilish amusement in teasing the suicidal man.

Never had Law felt this humiliated in his life. Granted, he never had so much of a life to begin with but the man standing right before him expecting his death with so much eagerness got under his skin, which no one had ever managed to with so little effort. Law's usual calm demeanor shattered right there and then. He proceeded to stomp his way towards the man. Law's face was stone cold but his glaring stormy grey eyes reflected the rage boiling inside him.

The world around Law suddenly spun and the next thing he knew was he had been pinned to the ground by a pair of strong arms, face to face with the red eyes piercing into his own grey ones. Panting, Law was yet to overcome his shock of the recent event. Never had he thought that someone as muscular as Kidd would have that much agility.

"Get off me!" Law tried to kick his way free from Kidd's grasp, but realized that his legs too, were unable to move. Downing to realization of his predicament, Law refused to back down and glared as though he want to murder the man pinning him, and he did.

"Don't be so fierce, what's your name tiger?" Kidd cooed with a tinge of blush on his cheeks. Law started to think that he really was drunk and decided that it wouldn't be wise to enrage the man if he really was.

"Law. Trafalgar Law." He gritted his teeth trying to calm himself down though his glare remain intact and as poisonous as ever. Just when he was about to spat another bitter comment on Kidd, there was a commotion heading towards them from the stairs leading to the inside of the hospital. One of the security guards, apparently looking for the intruder, namely Kidd glanced through the opened door and shouted to his fellow guards.

"THERE HE IS!"

"Shit." With that, Kidd let go of his hostage as Law cowered trying not to get trampled as Kidd hastily got up and ran for the stairs, knocking over the poor guard in the process.

Law was still gaping and panting hard after the incident as he sat up and stared blankly at the direction Eustass Kidd had just ran to.

"What the hell just happened? How could you let that kind of guy into the hospital?" Law demanded, glaring at the guard with the casket hat he knew so well.

"I'm sorry Law. Uh, we got a bit of a trouble in the ER, some drunkards got into a fight and was send here, one of them escaped. And suppose you know what happened next." The guard helped him up and inspected him up and down, hands holding both of Law's shoulder as if preventing him to bolt. "Did he hurt you?"

"No. Now let me go, Shachi." Law hated to be handled as if he's some fragile object. He'd had enough shares of them for the next life.

"You ought to be back in your room. Dr. Kureha won't be pleased to find you out here in the cold. What are you doing here anyway?" Shachi straighten his casket hat, which Law thought was ridiculous paired with his guard uniform. But he insisted on wearing it anyway, saying that it was his lucky charm for girls. Shachi might not be the best security guard in the hospital, but Law kept him around as company so he could occasionally slipped out of his room knowing Shachi was extremely lenient unlike the other guards.

"Just out for some fresh air." He replied curtly, with his usual calm expression.

"You got a balcony in your room."

"I can get a better view from here"

"True." With that, he dropped the subject and started to ramble on what a disaster the ER had become since the new year's eve celebration started. Law ignored all the stuffs Shachi tried to inform him about, and went straight to his room with Shachi's escort.

Once he assured Shachi for the tenth time that he was not hurt in any way, the guard left him to his own. Law locked his door and slumped on his bed, only to stare at the white ceiling. Why did every damn thing in the hospital have to be white? It's suffocating. The only thing in his room that brought comfort to him was his collection of medical books he stashed under his mattress. Granted, it gave his back one hell of a night, but he bear with it not wanting for anyone to find out. Especially his adoptive mother, Dr. Kureha.

Law had always dreamed to be a doctor or to be more specific, a surgeon. But for some unknown reason, Dr. Kureha always tried to snuff out every attempt he made to achieve his dream. Law never understood what that old hag was thinking about. She wouldn't tell him the specific progress or deterioration of his own condition. The confinement drove him crazy. He was not allowed to study, to pursue his dream, to know about his own condition. Those thoughts alone almost made him goes up to the balcony and end it once and for all. Every month, he tried. Every month he would go up to the roof and tried to end it. But every single time, he couldn't bear to do it, and when he did decided to do it, something or someone always interrupted him.

His face remained stoic as the clock chimed twelve times and the crowd outside roar with delight. Another year had gone by, Law never understood the joy of year passing. It just meant a countdown to his death.

It was a long night for Law and he decided to bury his face in his pillow and drifted to sleep, only to dream about the weird red-haired man from before. Eustass fucking Kidd.

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**To be continued in the next chapter…**

**A/N: So how was it, was it too short? Reviews will be much appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'll Be Your Strength**

**Chapter 2. – Hello **

**A/N: Here it is! The second chapter, and as usual: Although I tried my best but there might still be some grammatical mistakes. Happy reading!**

**Disclaimer: One Piece does not belongs to me.**

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"So, what are you gonna do today?" Shachi kept on pestering Law who was in the bathroom changing into one of the white doctor coat he hid under his sock drawer. He was not supposed to own it, but how hard could it possibly be stealing a coat from one of the lockers when you'd been trapped inside the same hospital for twenty-four years. No one would notice anyway.

"I'll go down to the ER and check what I can do to help Penguin out, if you'd be so kind to help me looking out for the old hag." Law liked to occasionally help out as long as he was sure that Dr. Kureha wasn't around to send him back to his room with a scalpel aimed at his backside, and the only way to do that was to have someone to either keep her busy or spy on her. Which of course was a job Law had in mind for his dear friend.

Law walked out of his bathroom to find Shachi laying on his immaculately made bed, much to his annoyance. Law loved things to be neat. He would had Shachi remade the bed for him but Law had learned from experiences that the security guard's level of neatness could barely reach half his standard.

"So how's Penguin doing?" Exasperated, Law could only tried to get his mind off his now wrinkly sheet by thinking about his self-assigned job.

"Oh, yeah. The poor bloke really needs it. The emergency room is now packed with last night's victim. Last time I heard, he got smacked by a drunk chick demanding food." Hearing that, a glint of amusement passed by Law's grey eyes. Not for the fact that his friend was assaulted by a drunk girl, but for the word 'victim'. He liked the way the orange haired man referred to patients in the hospital. Penguin, another one of Law's few circle of friend was a male nurse working mostly in pediatrics departments but once in a while, the overflow of patients made him ended up in the ER working his ass off. He winced at the thought as he imagined the series of complains he would had the honor to suffer during lunch today.

The patient, or rather 'victim of the night' as Shachi put it, flooded in the hospital during and after the mindless celebration, which resulted in chaotic mess, and a less than unfortunate encounter with a certain red haired escapee.

"Boy, they did party till they dropped." Shachi said cheerfully as he spun his casket hat around with his index finger, still lying on Law's bed and wiggled his back to get into a more comfortable position, completely oblivious to the look Law gave him in the process.

"Should we go now or what?" Law was seriously considering smacking the orange haired boy's painfully wide grin off his face. Ignoring his friend trailing behind him, Law wandered down the white boring hospital hallway he was so familiar with. Earning glances and exasperated look here and there. His get up did little to fool those who worked in the hospital, but as long as the patients believed that he was a doctor, that was good enough for him. Besides, nobody would mind him poking into the awfully packed emergency room with a good will to help out, except for a certain old doctor.

One careful step after another, looking out in every nook and corner. Law started to think he was in one of those cheesy detective movies, completed with an incompetent sidekick sniggering behind at his every cautious step. Unlike Law, Shachi had a perfect liberty to move around the hospital. His steps were light and forever free. He didn't have a cage, or a chain around his ankle, a collar around his neck. Even Shachi's duties were neglected and no one seemed to care. And when Law so much as picked up a scalpel from a surgeon's tray, all hell broke loose. It wasn't as if he would used it on someone…'_You might hurt yourselves!' _They had told him, and '_Don't even think about it, young man'_. Whenever he tried to sneak into the operation theatre. He didn't mean to interfere, he'd just stood there and watched, he even took the effort to scrub himself properly and followed all the procedure. But as always, the little light of hope to ever become a surgeon was snuffed out whenever a spark lighted up. To some he might sound like a pouting child ranting about people being unfair, but to be born to live a lonely existence with no hope for the future aside from the poking of needles, endless experimental therapy, some occasional day off the hospital and prescription drug, the dark haired male wondered himself, how long could he go on living like this? _Could this even be considered as living at all?_

Law was too consumed in his own thought that he turned from a corner and almost gave his plan for the day an unfortunate end, if it wasn't for Shachi who pulled him back from the line of vision of a single most deranged and vicious man in the history of medical science, the dean of medicine and coincidentally the owner of the hospital.

Donquixote Doflamingo.

Law cursed under his breath, how could he be so careless knowing that every single step was crucial to the success to his plan. He eyed the man cautiously, and that alone had already provoked a nauseating headache. He could swore Donquixote Doflamingo had something wrong with his leg by the wobbly way he stalked around the hospital, and something worse in his brain, probably around his occipital lobe. The blonde either had no sense of colors or he had a fetish for loud contrasting outfit and fluffy, pink-feathered coat.

His laugh boomed and bounced off the white walls of the hospital as he wobbled away, and Law was still hiding by the corner with Shachi standing guard to make sure the very last of the pink feather disappeared behind the door leading to the dean's office.

"Clear."

Upon that word, the black haired male peeked out to ensure himself of the situation as his friend sighed at his distrustful nature. But the orange haired boy knew better than to mention it to Law.

"Okay, the ER is just down that hallway, I suppose you can make it there yourself seeing is now safely tucked in his office." Shachi yawned,"If you need me, I'll be napping in the janitor's closet."

"I need you to distract Kureha for me." A key to a successful mission is to have someone as a distraction.

"I swear, one day you're gonna get me fired." Shachi sighed as he always did every time Law asked for him to perform.

"No I won't, you're the only guard here who can keep the lunatics in the psychiatric department in their place without ending up as the patient in that division itself." The comment left the casket hatted male wondering if he should be pleased or offended. He decided to let it passed.

"You know, you could've just _asked_."

Law stopped. That was not something he could _just_ do.

"Ask what exactly, Shachi?" Law eyed him with his stormy eyes not bothering to hide his irritation toward the other male.

"Well, you want to help out. It's good, right. So I thought, you could just ask or even the dean himself?" Shachi tried not to shrink under the pressure of Law's glare.

"It's not that easy." He sighed

_It never is…_

Rejection was not something Law took lightly at all, but it was also something he was accustomed to. The little child inside him squirmed and threw one hell of a tantrum at the thought, but overtime Law found out that it was easier to pick up the screaming child and locked it tight in a room, in the abyss of his heart. It was not an easy process but it was necessary. People around him praised him for how mature he was, little did they knew that all he did was just stop caring.

Curiosity is the only thing that kept him going, towards one dream he held so dear. He always wondered if he could win it.

_A race with time._

Will he succumb to his disease and die, or will he be able to achieve his dream?

If only he knew, if only he could do something. Stole a chart of the researches and test the doctors did to him. Maybe he could figure something out. Maybe…

"Law!"

Yanked out so suddenly from his thought, Law staggered backward as he look into the hard eye of another man. He blinked to clear his thought. He looked around and it seemed that he had arrived in the ER on autopilot.

"Hi, Penguin." He tried to flash a smile, but failed.

Penguin mumbled his half-hearted greeting and yawned. He looked as messed up as Shachi had told him. His ridiculous hat with his nickname written on it covered most of the feature of his face. But without even looking into the man's eyes Law could easily sensed the lingering air an obvious exhaustion overdrive.

"Need any help?" It was a rhetorical question, and Penguin eyed him warily as Law took a file from the piling counter.

Penguin sighed.

"As much as we needed help right now, I still don't think that you should…"

" Relax Peg, I got Shachi looking out for Kureha for me." Law cut him short and proceeded to the rows of bed filled with patients.

"You're gonna get him fired."

Law smiled and moved on to inspect his first patient. Trying to remember the procedure he read from his precious collection of books and several tips from Penguin who certainly knew more from practice. After struggling for a while, Law started to get used to the flow of things. It was delightful at the least for him not only to able to be of use and his passion hidden deep inside him slowly crept their way out and showed in a form of light giving a glimmer to his usually lifeless stone cold eyes.

Penguin sat there bemused, watching the taller man worked with more dedication than any other staff in the hospital.

should just let him help out. Penguin failed to see the reason of keeping Law away from the knowledge and thrill of the world of medicine. But he dared not to pry more as he feared the doctor would get suspicious. He decided to banish the thought and watched over Law for the time being. God knew if Law screwed up, he'd be the one taking the blame.

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Nausea and spiking headache was never a good thing to wake up to.

Kidd's head was throbbing in agony and waking up to the ridiculously loud buzzing noises all around him didn't exactly helped. He had no clue whatsoever of where he was and why did the air smelled oddly like disinfectant.

He immediately regretted his decision of opening his eyes as the blinding white light hit him like a flash bang. He grunted in annoyance as his eyes slowly adjusting to the brightness of the room.

It took the red head a good three minutes to realize that he was in fact in a hospital. His head was killing him and thinking only worsened the dull throbbing pain. He felt like puking his guts out as the world around him did a triple back flip. It was an extreme case of hangover. He tried to remember what happened last night. Kidd recalled that he was supposed to be out with his friends.

What was the event again? He remembered a huge party.

There was his best friend, Killer_. 'I think Heat and Wire was there too.' _He thought to himself, gradually recovering his memory.

"It must have been one hell of a party." He mumbled absently.

"Yeah, you bet it was."

Kidd squinted at the light and tried to look to his right, to the source of the voice. He was greeted by a loud polkadot printed blouse, and a familiar long blond hair held back by a blue and white stripped bandana covering the face of a man.

"Morning, Killer." Kidd grinned despite his headache.

The man called Killer huffed at his friend disapprovingly as he leaned back to the plastic chair he had been sitting on and something told Kidd that he had done something that displeased the blonde in his drunken state. And he would _love _to know. If it's something that was severe enough to piss his levelheaded friend off, it had gotta be awesome.

"It's a new record Kidd."

"What is?"

"You've been in and out of this hospital three times in the past twenty four hours." Killer grumbled as he waved off a passing nurse wanting to check on Kidd.

"Okay…So, what did I do?"

A minute passed as Killer's mind finally registered that the brute's question was genuine. The idiot had indeed forgot the mess he caused the night before. It took all of Killer's self restrain not to knock the barely conscious red head and sent him right to the morgue.

"You're fucking kidding me." Killer's exasperation was crystal clear.

''Cut the crap, Killer. What did I do?"

The bandana man started to tell the tale but Kidd's attention had already deviated to the far left corner of the room. Eyeing a certain raven-haired man with deep interest. It was vague, but he recalled something about the man. Something rather odd, something about the roof of the hospital. Strange, had they met before?

"…and that's how you got into the hospital for the third fucking time."

Kidd blinked. His attention back to his friend.

"You didn't listen, did you?"

"I heard the word 'fucking'." Kidd grinned and dismissed another round of lecture from the man, "Anyway, who's that guy?"

Killer turned his head to see _who _exactly his brain damaged red head was pointing to. His eyes found their target on a lean young man, probably in his early 20s wearing a white doctor's coat consulting a patient.

"You mean the doctor?" The other option was the patient the man was consulting with; a stout balding man presumably in his late 60s. But Killer couldn't put his mind around the thought that he would be Kidd's point of attention. So it left the young doctor, which was a more likely subject.

"Kidd, you're kidding me."

Kidd knew ignoring his friend never led to something good, but the very existence of the man evaporated with the rest of the room when the subject he was staring not too discreetly glanced in his direction and made immediate eye contact.

The red head watched with curiosity as seconds ticked away and the shocked expression on the young doctor's face flashed with recognition, disbelieve, and repulsion before it changed back to its normal cold demeanor masking every emotion underneath the dead cold grey eyes of his, which incidentally Kidd found to be very attractive.

"He looks interesting." Kidd commented as he watched the raven-haired male stormed out of his line of vision behind the mounting file of sick people.

"And you said that based on what, experience?" Killed said sarcastically.

"Instinct." Kidd grinned in amusement, the gears in his head spinning in overdrive trying to plot some diabolical plan in order to get in contact with the doctor.

"Don't even think about it Kidd…" Apparently, his best friend knew what was on his mind.

"Well, can you get him over here?"

"Well I don't have a fucking choice do I, If I want to leave this place without a felony charge for your mindless actions?"

Kidd chuckled at his response and waved the blonde off in search of the doctor, while he pondered if he should be worried for the fact that Killer knew the way his brain worked. Yet again his train of thought was completely stopped when he caught sight of that familiar black fuzz of hair moved towards him reluctantly, ignoring the man with blond mess poking out of striped bandana trailing behind him.

_This is gonna be interesting._

The red head was so distracted at his own thought that he didn't realized the man he was so eager to get to know was already standing near the bed he occupied albeit keeping a safe distance from Kidd.

"What?" The raven-haired male barked.

_Okay, he didn't remember. But maybe he did something rather offensive to the man, but how could anyone be held responsible for his action after chugging down gallons of alcohol?_

Law's annoyance was thick and the air felt heavy. Eustass Kidd, a man who claimed to have no fear felt as if he would rather melt under the very gaze of another man he insisted to meet. Were doctors supposed to be this intimidating or the one standing before him was a special case?

Only one thing Eustass Kidd was certain of: The doctor standing in front of him was the most attractive being ever walked the face of earth.

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**TBC…**

**Thanks for reading! And please spare a few moment to tell me what you think about the fic by dropping a review, or if you want to ask me something, feel free to leave a PM! :3 **

**Special thanks to the wonderful reviewers: LittleSunion, G, and puroppu!**


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